God of New Beginning

Psalm 138:7-8
by Minister George
July 5, 2026
~24 min message Psalm 138:7-8

In this encouraging message, Minister George shares how God’s faithfulness shines brightest in our most difficult seasons. Drawing from personal testimonies of business trials and miraculous breakthroughs, he reminds the congregation that every test is part of God’s process toward divine perfection and a new beginning. Anchored in Psalm 138:7-8 and 1 Peter 5:10, this sermon calls believers to trust the God who restores, protects, and brings His promises to completion.

Overview

Minister George preached from Psalm 138:7–8, encouraging believers that God is actively present in seasons of trouble and is faithful to bring them through to a new beginning. Drawing on a personal testimony involving a shipping container, solar panels, and unexpected provision, he illustrated how God can reverse what the enemy intends for harm. The sermon closes with 1 Peter 5:10, anchoring the message in the truth that suffering is temporary, purposeful, and productive — leading to maturity, faith, and ultimate establishment in Christ.

Key Scripture Passages

  • Psalm 138:7–8 — The anchor text; declares that God revives his people in the midst of trouble, stretches out his hand against enemies, and will not abandon the work he has begun.
  • 1 Peter 5:10 — The closing scripture; promises that after a season of suffering, the God of all grace will personally perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle the believer.

Sermon Outline

  1. God Revives in the Midst of Trouble (Psalm 138:7–8)
    • The psalmist does not say "if" trouble comes, but "though I walk in the midst of trouble" — affliction is acknowledged as a real experience of the believer.
    • God's response is active: He revives, He stretches out His hand, His right hand saves.
  2. Personal Testimony: A Reversal in July
    • Minister George shared his experience of a shipping container delayed at inspection, daily demurrage fees of $200 accumulating, and the financial pressure this created.
    • Through timely provision, the payment was made, the container was released, and a new business opportunity emerged — a contractor began directing free solar panel pickups to the minister for export to Ghana.
    • What the devil intended as a setback, God used as a setup for a new open door.
    • The minister had declared July as a month of divine turnaround, and the testimony confirmed that declaration.
  3. The Process Must Happen
    • The path to the final destination is a process — it takes time, and that is by God's design.
    • The process may be uncomfortable and hard, but it is not purposeless.
    • The process produces maturity, deeper faith, and a fuller knowledge of God's faithfulness.
  4. Trust the One Who Is Shaping You (1 Peter 5:10)
    • God is the God of all grace — our trials do not negate His grace; they operate within it.
    • After suffering "a while," God promises four outcomes: perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling the believer.
    • Suffering is compared to a school examination — tests reveal and confirm the knowledge and character that have been built up.
    • Minister George testified that he now faces tests with his "head straight," confident that big things follow.

Theological Insights

  • Divine Preservation Through, Not From, Trouble: Psalm 138:7 does not promise immunity from trouble but God's sustaining presence within it. This aligns with John 16:33 ("In the world you will have tribulation, but take heart; I have overcome the world") and Isaiah 43:2 ("When you pass through the waters, I will be with you").
  • The Right Hand of God: The "right hand" in Psalm 138:7 is a recurring biblical image of God's saving power and authority (see Exodus 15:6; Psalm 20:6; Isaiah 41:10). In the ancient Near East, the right hand was the hand of strength, blessing, and covenant loyalty.
  • God Completes What He Begins: Psalm 138:8 — "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me" — is one of Scripture's clearest statements of divine faithfulness to the individual. This anticipates Philippians 1:6: "He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."
  • Suffering as Sanctifying Process: The sermon's emphasis on the process producing maturity echoes James 1:3–4 ("the testing of your faith produces steadfastness, and steadfastness its perfect work") and Romans 5:3–4 ("tribulation produces patience, character, and hope"). Suffering in the New Testament is consistently portrayed as formative rather than merely punitive.
  • God Redeeming Enemy Schemes: The testimony illustrates the Genesis 50:20 principle ("What you intended for evil, God intended for good") — the adversarial pressure became the occasion for a new and greater open door.
  • The God of All Grace (1 Peter 5:10): Peter's designation of God as "the God of all grace" is theologically significant. Every grace — saving, sustaining, sanctifying, glorifying — originates in Him. Suffering does not indicate a withdrawal of grace but occurs under its sovereign umbrella.
  • The Fourfold Promise of 1 Peter 5:10: Scholars note four distinct Greek verbs in this verse — katartizō (perfect/restore), stērizō (establish/fix firmly), sthenoō (strengthen), and themeliōō (settle/lay a foundation). Together they describe a comprehensive spiritual consolidation that only comes through the experience of tested faith.

Word & Context Study

  • "Revive" (Psalm 138:7) — Hebrew chayah: The Hebrew verb translated "revive" literally means to give life, to preserve alive, or to cause to live again. It carries the sense of resuscitation from the very edge of death. This is not mere encouragement — it is God imparting life into a situation that has begun to die. The same root is used in Ezekiel 37 when God breathes life into the valley of dry bones.
  • "Perfect" (Psalm 138:8; 1 Peter 5:10): In Psalm 138:8, the Hebrew gamar means to complete, to bring to an end or full accomplishment. In 1 Peter 5:10, the Greek katartizō was used in the ancient world for mending fishing nets (Matthew 4:21) and setting broken bones — it implies restoring something to its proper, fully functioning condition. Both terms together communicate that God is not half-finished with His people; He carries His work to full completion.
  • "A While" (1 Peter 5:10) — Greek oligon: This word means a little while, a brief or small amount. Peter's use is deliberately consoling — whatever suffering the believer endures, it is, from God's eternal perspective, brief and bounded. It echoes Paul's language in 2 Corinthians 4:17: "our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all."
  • Demurrage Fees as Cultural Context: Minister George's testimony is rooted in the world of international shipping and freight forwarding. Demurrage is the charge levied on a shipper when cargo (here, a container) is not moved within the allowed free time at a port or inspection facility. The daily accumulation of these fees creates exponential financial pressure — a vivid real-world picture of trouble that compounds if unaddressed, making the timely provision and release all the more striking as an act of divine intervention.

Application

  • Do not abandon the process. If you are in a difficult season, recognize that the discomfort you feel is not evidence that God has left — it may be evidence that He is actively shaping you. Refuse to quit before the completion.
  • Make declarations of faith over your season. Minister George publicly declared July a month of divine turnaround. Speak the Word of God over your circumstances. Faith confessed aloud is faith activated (Romans 10:10).
  • Reframe tests as a sign of progress. Just as examinations in school confirm learning, spiritual tests confirm and deepen faith. Change your response to testing from dread to expectation, knowing that passing through produces something that bypassing never could.
  • Look for God's reversals. What appears to be a dead end in your situation may be the exact point at which God introduces an unexpected open door. Stay alert to how God redeems the very things the enemy uses to oppress you.
  • Trust the Shaper, not just the outcome. Minister George said, "Trust the one who is shaping you." This calls for relational trust in God's character and intentions, not merely hoping for a good result. Surrender the process to Him, not only the destination.
  • Rest in God's commitment to finish what He started. Psalm 138:8 and Philippians 1:6 together assure you that the same God who initiated His work in your life has pledged to complete it. You are not a project He has abandoned.

Reflection & Discussion Questions

  1. Psalm 138:7 says God revives us while we are still "in the midst of trouble" — not necessarily after the trouble ends. What does this tell us about when and how God works? Have you experienced God's reviving presence before your situation fully resolved?
  2. Minister George testified that what the devil intended to break him became the very channel for a new business opportunity. Can you identify a moment in your own life when God reversed what the enemy meant for harm? What did that reversal teach you about God's sovereignty?
  3. The sermon emphasizes that the process is necessary — it cannot be bypassed. Are there areas in your life where you have been trying to skip the process or praying to be removed from it rather than carried through it? What might God be producing in you through that process?
  4. 1 Peter 5:10 promises that suffering will lead to being perfected, established, strengthened, and settled. Which of these four outcomes do you feel you most need in your current season, and why?
  5. Minister George compared spiritual tests to school examinations, saying he now faces them with his "head straight" because he knows big things follow. How has your perspective on difficulty changed (or how do you want it to change) as a result of this message?
  6. Psalm 138:8 declares: "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me — thy mercy, O Lord, endureth forever." The psalmist grounds his confidence not in circumstances but in God's enduring mercy (hesed — covenant lovingkindness). How does remembering God's covenant faithfulness change the way you endure a prolonged trial?

Conclusion

Minister George's message is a clarion call to hold fast in the face of adversity, rooted in the unshakeable confidence that God is both present in trouble and purposeful through it. Psalm 138:7–8 assures every believer that the Lord who stretched out His right hand to deliver Israel will stretch it out for them — reviving what is dying, restraining what threatens, and completing what He has begun. The difficult seasons of life are not interruptions to God's plan; they are instruments of it. As 1 Peter 5:10 promises, after a little while of suffering, the God of all grace personally takes up the work of perfecting, establishing, strengthening, and settling His people. Whatever container is stuck, whatever debt is mounting, whatever door appears closed — trust the One who is shaping you. He has never abandoned an unfinished work, and He will not start with you.

Study guide generated from this sermon · Grace International Ministry Apostolic
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